Category Archives: Blackhawks

Just a day after blowing out the Ducks, the Blackhawks did the same to the Los Angeles Kings, making two of the top teams in the league look like the Edmonton Oilers, and the Oilers look like the Chicago Wolves. In comparison, the Ducks playing the next day got blown out by a team at the time below .500, no such hangover for the Blackhawks who crushed the Kings 4-1.

Crawford started his 14th straight game on Saturday in LA. The guy is getting rid like Farlap, for any of you that remember that movie.

The Hawks showed no negative effects from the game Friday, as they dominated the first five minutes of play with Carcillo going Jose Abreu to a puck at 1:52 giving the Hawks a 1-0 lead. It looked like it was going to be a long night for the Kings early, as the Hawks were just all over them from the get go. Read more »

The Chicago Blackhawks skated into Anaheim Friday afternoon and took advantage of post-Thanksgiving bargains against a depleted Ducks defense. Chicago dominated most of the action on the way to a 4-1 victory.

With the win, Chicago has won four out of the first five games of its annual November road jaunt. The Hawks were in control throughout the matinee despite a game effort by Anaheim goalie Frederick Andersen.

First Period-The Hawks got their first shot on goal via Brad Richards late in the fourth minute. That attempt, gloved by Frederick Andersen, was followed by some increased offensive pressure on Chicago’s part. Anaheim put together a nice shift in the Hawks zone in the eighth minute, though Chicago eventually cleared the puck and posted the first tally of the contest. Read more »

The Blackhawks ran over a depleted Colorado Avalanche roster in Denver on Wednesday night, outshooting the home team and dominating the action from the opening to final minute. But Chicago needed a great individual effort from Patrick Kane, and a brutal play by Alex Tanguay, leading to a Bryan Bickell tally with 5:17 remaining in the third period to take a 3-2 win out of Colorado.

Avalanche starter Calvin Pickard made 42 saves in the losing effort. The Blackhawks fired 76 shots in all at Pickard, according to the official scorers, as opposed to Colorado’s 48. Corey Crawford made 27 saves in his 12th consecutive start for his 10th win of the season.

Jonathan Toews and Andrew Shaw netted power play goals for a Hawks power play that was 2 for 6 on the evening. The Avalanche went 0-2 in the game and the head coach and Colorado players were stewing after the game about the discrepancy in power plays.

“I thought 5-on-5 we were the better team,” asserted Patrick Roy. “I thought they got away with things we couldn’t,” Roy went on to say, speaking about the difference in power play opportunities. Read more »

Rockford IceHogs have rolled off four consecutive wins, all without their captain Joakim Nordstrom, veteran goaltender Michael Leighton and leading scorer Mark McNeill. The latter three wins also came without Adam Clendening and Phillip Danault.

In the process, the depleted IceHogs grabbed three wins from divisional foes this past weekend to solidify Rockford with the best record (14-4-0-1, .763) in the AHL. It started with 4-3 come-from-behind overtime win over Iowa on Friday.

The only games Rockford has lost this season have been to Milwaukee (3 times) and Rochester. Their shootout competition loss came in Toronto on October 19th, after 67 minutes of scoreless hockey.

The IceHogs snapped an 8-game losing streak, stretching back to last season, when they finally defeated the Milwaukee Admirals on Saturday night in Rockford by a 3-2 score in what may have been the best 60 minutes of hockey Rockford’s been a part of all season. Read more »

After leaving Edmonton on Saturday night with a 7-1 victory, it was time to face a tougher opponent with a visit to Rogers Arena in Vancouver. The circus road trip has been great for the Hawks starting 2-0. This would be their third in four nights spanning across western Canada. The Hawks dropped this contest 4-1 on the back of Jannik Hansen’s hat trick. Corey Crawford made some acrobatic saves to keep the Hawks in the game, but it would be the momentum of Daniel Sedin’s 1000th game that would win out on Sunday. Read more »

Blackhawks 2013 first round draft pick Ryan Hartman got off to a good start offensively this season, then fell off the scoresheets for a few weeks.

On Friday, Hartman snapped a 9-game pointless streak. He tallied twice for the IceHogs, including the game-tying in the third period, then the overtime game-winner in a 4-3 win over the Iowa Wild in Rockford. The goals were Hartman’s 3rd and 4th of the season.

The local product was originally credited with two goals in a 3-2 Opening night loss to Milwaukee on October 11st, but one of those would later rightly be given to defenseman Zach Miskovic.

Following his two-goal performance on Friday, Hartman said he was never concerned about his drop off in offensive production.

“It’s part of hockey. I’ve done that plenty of times before,” said Hartman. “There’s times when the puck’s not going your way. Read more »

Adam Clendening showed his power play prowess to his new Chicago Blackhawks team mates Thursday night. The rookie defenseman struck twine in his NHL debut to help Chicago knock off the Calgary Flames 4-3 in the Saddledome. Patrick Kane scored the game-winner and set up another Hawks goal as Chicago picked up two points in the first game of a six-game road trip.

First Period-T.J. Brodie held Brandon Saad’s stick two minutes into the contest to provide an early chance to jump out to a lead. Thanks to the new kid, they did.

Adam Clendening took a return pass from Marian Hossa and blasted a one-timer from the point. The shot beat Jonas Hiller thanks in part to a screen by Kris Versteeg, settling into the net right at the four-minute mark to give Clendening his first NHL goal and the Hawks a 1-0 lead. Read more »

After an abysmal game in Detroit on Friday, the Chicago Blackhawks returned home Sunday night to play division rival Dallas Stars. The final period saw an explosion of goals on route to a 6-2 victory behind 6 different Hawks players adding a multi-point night.

The new lines constructed by Coach Q combined for 13 points and a power play goal from Brent Seabrook. Corey Crawford stood strong for the home team including surrendering 2 Dallas goals within 39 seconds. Kari Lehtonen was the victim to all 6 Blackhawk goals. Dan Carcillo, Michal Rozsival and newly called up Joakim Nordstrom were inserted into the lineup with Jeremy Morin and Dave Rundblad watching from above.

Two scary moments during the game when Trevor VanRiemsdyk was hit in the left leg with a shot and left halfway through the first period, not returning. Jonathan Toews almost lost an ear when Tyler Seguin was falling to the ice getting his skate up on captain serious, just kicking his helmet. Coach Q stated that TVR could be out “awhile.” Read more »

The Blackhawks made a series of roster moves on Saturday that were released over the course of the day out of necessity ahead of their next game, Sunday night at the United Center.

First, Peter Regin was reassigned to the Rockford IceHogs (AHL) prior the Blackhawks Saturday morning practice. In 4 games played with the Blackhawks, Regin averaged 8:20 of ice time. He had one assist and three shots on goal.

This move wouldn’t come as a surprise, as Joel Quenneville also announced on Saturday that Dan Carcillo (knee) would return to Chicago’s lineup on Sunday when the Blackhawks host the Dallas Stars. Since Regin had to clear waivers to go to Rockford in October, he’ll have to go through the process again if he’s played in ten NHL games or spent 30 days on the NHL roster. Thus, Regin’s demotion was inevitable.

Carcillo, 29, was injured on October 25th in St. Louis. He’s missed the past 10 games.

Later in the day, however, the Hawks then announced the recall of forward Joakim Nordstrom from Rockford. Nordstrom was named Rockford’s team captain last month. In 14 games this season with the IceHogs, the 22-year old Swede has 5 goals and 3 assists. Nordstrom is averaging a little better than 2 shots on goal per game and has a minus-1 rating. He’s mostly skated on the right wing with Dennis Rasmussen and Teuvo Teravainen being his primary centers. The Nordstrom recall indicates there’s likely a need for a healthy forward that’s more urgent than the upcoming road trip.

The more newsworthy transaction (for now) came at 11pm central, when the Blackhawks recalled goaltender Scott Darling from the IceHogs. In doing so, Chicago also reassigned Antti Raanta back to Rockford.

We can report independently that the decision to recall Darling and send Raanta to Rockford was made earlier in the day on Saturday, and prior to Rockford’s game in Milwaukee. Read more »

The Hawks skated into Joe Louis Arena on Friday riding a pretty impressive regular season unbeaten streak against the Red Wings. However, on this night, it was clear the home team had more jump from the get go.

As he’s been want to of late, Quenneville rolled out some pretty unusual lines, notably putting Versteeg on the first line and Hossa on the third.

1st period: Hawks get the game’s initial pp at 17:55. The first pp unit ran with both Keith and Seabs on the blue line opposed to having a forward back with Keith. Brad Richards is still on the 2nd pp unit so Coach Q is still showing some faith in our new 4th line center.

At 6:09 in the first the Wings capitalize on a terrible Versteeg turnover to score the game’s first goal. Read more »